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26 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



March 17, 1910. 



sales, but it is an excellent bedder, the 

 trusses being produced, under favorable 

 conditions, throughout the whole summer 

 and autumn. 



The plant illustrated was photographed 

 in a Rochester flower store last Eaister. 

 The basket is one of those odd willow 

 shapes of which so many are now offered 

 for the choice of the distjriminating re- 

 tail florists. In preparing the plant for 

 sale some asparagus was planted around 

 the base of the rose and the soil in the 

 pot was covered with live sphagnum moss. 



HANDLING THE RUSH. 



Be Wise and Be Ready. 



\Vhen holidays come around, either 

 Christmas or Easter, the retail florist 

 sympathizes with the banker^ — the man 

 of money says elastic currency is a cry- 

 ing need, and the florist would give much 

 to put elasticity into his own facilities. 

 What the retailer wants for three days 

 is twice as much space as he ordinarily 

 needs, and about three times as much 

 help. 



Fortunate, indeed, is the man who has 

 a conservatory attached to his store, from 

 which the/palms can be removed for a 

 fe\y days and in which the holiday plant 

 arrangements can be handled. Next 

 lucky is the florist who finds a vacant 

 store next door available for a holiday 

 rush. The man who has neither of these 

 resources must do the best he can and 

 make no protest when he finds his store 

 so full of stock there is no room for cus- 

 tomers — anyway, the telephone nowadays 

 produces a big part of the business. 



Extra Help. 



The retailer whose business for three 

 days at Easter is five or six times as 

 large as in an ordinary three days always 

 has to get in extra help. Fortunately, no 

 great amount of store experience is re- 

 quired to make a good clerk for the holi- 



day rush. People come to the flower 

 store intent upon buying, and about a,ll 

 you have to do is to take their orders, — 

 it isn 't half as hard as ordinary selling. 

 A great many retailers get their extra 

 holiday help from the greenhouses — 

 either their own or other people's. By 

 the time the rush is on in the retail 

 stores, it is pretty well over under the 

 glass where stock is grown for wholesal- 

 ing. These greenhouse hands make first- 

 class store assistants. If they are not 

 good for salesmen, they are sure to be 

 experienced plant handlers and packers. 

 They can plant up the baskets and ham- 

 pers, or they can wrap and pack for de- 

 livery. If this class of help is to be had 

 it will permit all the store 's regular force 

 to turn in for selling. 



Where a retailer must get along with 

 help that has no experience in the busi- 

 ness, he will be wise to employ some of 

 the young women of the neighborhood, 

 so that he can get them holiday after 

 holiday. Thus they gradually acquire 

 experience, and experience in that re- 

 tailer 's special methods and peculiarities, 

 so that in time they become almost as 

 good as his regular employees. 



Price Marks. 



With so much extra help in the place it 

 is necessary to have everything carefully 

 marked as to price. This is easy enough 

 with the plant arrangements. Some re- 

 tailers make up their stock and sell from 

 the display. In that case every piece 

 should be marked with its selling price 

 as soon as finished and before it is taken 

 into the store. Other stores merely show 

 samples of plant arrangements, taking 

 orders from these, and after business 

 hours planting up the stock to fill orders. 

 In one way this is easier, because it per- 

 mits everybody to take a hand at the sell- 

 ing, but it means long hours of overtime 

 getting out the orders, and selling from 

 sample is neither so easy nor so satis- 

 factory as where the actuaj article pur- 

 chased is picked out, t«.gj«ed, aj»d set 



away at th& moment the customer makes 

 selection; ■ 



Having every article priieed in plain 

 figures not only helps the green clerks to 

 acquit themselves creditably, but it helps 

 the selling, because the customers ^hile 

 waiting for attention can look around 

 and, reading the prices, make their own 

 selections, thereby saving the time of the 

 clerks. 



It is just as important to have every- 

 one know the price of the cut flowers aS 

 to have them know the prices of plants, 

 but in the high class stores they do not 

 like to tag their stock the way it is done 

 in the cheap-sales establishments. To get 

 around this difficulty one leading city 

 retailer has a blackboard of quite large 

 size on the wall in his workroom, out of 

 sight of the customers but where it is 

 quickly got at. On this blackboard he 

 clialks up the holiday prices of every 

 item of cut flowers in his stock. Then 

 it is not necessary for any clerk to ask 

 another about ' prices. Every plant ar- 

 rangement has an inconspicuous wood 

 label stuck in the soil, marked with the 

 selling price, and if there is any doubt 

 as to the price of cut flowers a glance at 

 the blackboard shows what it is. 



This blackboard also comes in handy 

 at other seasons. If there is a change of 

 prices during the regular season, it goes 

 on the board, so every employee will know 

 it. Or the nights on for the clerks are 

 bulletined there; or the summer vacation 

 schedule; indeed, the blackboard is so 

 constantly in use and the things it tells 

 are of so much interest and importance 

 that every employee has learned to watch 

 it, and watch it closely. 



Delivery is Importa r t 



After you have made all arrangements 

 for stock, for supplies and for the taking 

 and filling of orders, there yet remains 

 the vital matter of delivery. Where a 

 week's business is to be delivered in one 

 morning, it does not pay to leave any- 



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The Primula is Almost at Useful at Easter as at Christmas. 



